Personal computers require power supplies commonly referred to as power supply units (PSU) to generate multiple voltages needed for proper operation. The main boards (motherboards) and peripherals of personal computers generally require multiple voltages for operation, including 12 Volts, 5 Volts and 3.3 Volts. Power requirements of the central processing units (CPU) on the motherboards and the video controller integrated circuit (IC) on the peripheral graphics cards have increased dramatically. As a result, the overall power requirements of PSUs for personal computers have increased. High end gaming computers use power supply units that source 1000 or 1200 watts, for example. Most PSUs are configured with industry standard AC input power connectors as described by IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) specification 60320. Thus, most PSUs for personal computers use IEC connector versions C13 for power cord and C14 power inlets to supply AC power to the computer. However, as alternating current (AC) input currents increase dramatically, IEC 60320 versions C13 and C14 prove less than ideal. The voltage drops across the complete interconnect path including the input AC line cord and power inlet connector from the line source to the neutral return can approach 1 volt at 11.5 amps. This results in a power loss of approximately 11.5 watts which is roughly equivalent to a 0.7% penalty in the overall efficiency ratings of a 1200 watt, 87% efficient PSU. Such losses largely originate from two sources: 1.) The voltage drops in the IEC320 power cord are a result of the use of cable with insufficient diameter (the AWG rating and resistance is too high); 2.) The voltage drops in the IEC320 inlet originate from high contact resistance between the inlet and the mating end of the power cord.
Further, current PSUs use an array of modular cables for direct current (DC) output from the PSU. Such modular cables incorporate sub-optimal connectors having too high contact resistance and wire of too high series resistance and are not optimal for supplying sufficient current while minimizing power losses to key chips on motherboards, daughter cards such as video controller cards, and peripheral devices associated with the computer, for example.
A further problem is the way in which such sub-optimal connectors are wired to the DC output electronics of the PSU. Presently, bundles of wires are used to connect the PSU circuit board containing the DC output regulators to another circuit board containing an array of connectors required when implementing modular cables.